Sexual violence in armed conflict is not merely a humanitarian concern but a direct threat to international peace and security. The United Nations Secretary General’s 2026 report on conflict-related sexual violence reveals a troubling escalation in both the scale and brutality of such crimes, occurring precisely when resources to combat them are dwindling. This contradiction underscores a critical gap between global commitments and their implementation, with profound implications for civilian protection, international law enforcement, and post-conflict recovery efforts.
A Crisis of Scale and Strategic Intent
The report documents a sharp rise in verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence during 2025, with these crimes overwhelmingly targeting women and girls. However, the figures represent only verified incidents, meaning the actual scale remains vastly underreported due to restricted humanitarian access, fear of reprisals, and the stigma survivors face when seeking help. The strategic dimension of this violence is particularly concerning. In regions such as the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, non-State armed groups systematically employ sexual violence to consolidate territorial control, particularly over lucrative natural resource sites. This instrumentalization transforms sexual violence from a conflict byproduct into a deliberate tactic for achieving military and economic objectives. Armed groups also use abduction, forced marriage, and trafficking to incentivize fighter recruitment and generate illicit revenue, embedding sexual violence within the political economy of war.
Displacement and Detention as Vectors of Risk
Displaced and refugee populations face disproportionately elevated risks of sexual violence across nearly every conflict setting examined in the report. Women and girls fleeing violence often encounter further assaults during displacement, and upon return, many face community rejection that compounds their vulnerability to additional violations. In South Sudan, survivors reported being raped during repeated displacement episodes and later abducted while fleeing conflict zones. The situation is equally dire in detention settings, where patterns of sexual violence serve as tools of political repression and torture. In Myanmar, authorities reportedly used sexual violence in detention to intimidate and punish political opponents, while in the Syrian Arab Republic, detainees as young as 11 years old were subjected to rape and forced to assault other detainees, sometimes in front of their own children. These patterns highlight how sexual violence operates across the conflict continuum, from active combat zones to supposedly controlled detention facilities.
The Accountability Deficit and Resource Paradox
Impunity for conflict-related sexual violence remained widespread throughout 2025, as escalating conflicts and limited political will undermined accountability mechanisms. Over 65 percent of parties listed in the report’s annex are persistent perpetrators, appearing for five or more years without taking corrective action, revealing the ineffectiveness of current compliance frameworks. The situation is further complicated by attacks on justice institutions and the limited presence of judicial actors in conflict-affected areas. Meanwhile, a stark resource paradox has emerged. Global military spending in just 24 hours exceeds the annual allocation for addressing conflict-related sexual violence, while funding cuts have forced shelters to close, medical supplies to run out, and clinics to shutter in major conflict zones including Sudan, Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Gaza. The UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict network, funded solely through voluntary contributions, has implemented 66 projects across 22 conflict settings since 2008, yet requests for technical support from member states now exceed the available capacity and budgetary resources.
Technology as a New Frontier for Harm
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The 2025 report identifies an emerging trend that amplifies the harm inflicted on survivors. Perpetrators increasingly use digital technologies to preserve images of sexual assaults, which are then weaponized to extort or further humiliate victims, as documented in Haiti and South Sudan. Beyond individual cases, armed actors deploy digital tools for broader campaigns of harassment, including misogynistic hate speech and incitement to violence targeting women human rights defenders. Internet shutdowns in Afghanistan and restrictions in Myanmar have further impeded survivors’ access to information about referral pathways and life-saving services. This intersection of technology and conflict-related sexual violence represents a frontier requiring urgent attention from policymakers, particularly as perpetrators adapt faster than protection frameworks can respond.
Implications for International Peace and Security
The trends documented in this report have implications that extend far beyond individual tragedies. When sexual violence is used strategically to control territory, terrorize populations, and generate resources for armed groups, it becomes a mechanism that perpetuates conflict itself. The failure to fund prevention and response mechanisms adequately signals to perpetrators that international commitments lack enforcement teeth. Furthermore, the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in September 2025 amid investigations into sexual violence crimes demonstrates how accountability gaps can widen when political will falters. The erosion of survivor trust in institutions, caused by under-resourced justice systems and inadequate protective measures, undermines the foundations needed for post-conflict reconciliation and sustainable peace.
A Call for Structural Commitment
The evidence presented in the Secretary General’s report demands a recalibration of priorities. As Special Representative Pramila Patten emphasized in her Security Council briefing, any failure to sustain investment in survivor support systems, any backtracking on established norms, or any unraveling of the existing protection architecture would betray survivors while emboldening perpetrators. The path forward requires not only sustained funding for specialized capacities such as women’s protection advisers but also political commitment to enforce accountability through sanctions and prosecutions. Without bridging the gap between stated commitments and resource allocation, the international community risks allowing conflict-related sexual violence to evolve from a war crime requiring prevention into an accepted feature of contemporary conflict.
